Susan "Sasha" Alpert '78: Breaking Ground Then and Now

Susan “Sasha” Alpert ’78 is the multiple Emmy-winning Executive Vice President of Bunim/Murray Productions’ documentary division, BMP Films, which she founded in 2007. Sasha has produced many groundbreaking films, including several Emmy-nominated and -winning documentaries, including BMP’s first film, AUTISM: The Musical and Valentine Road. In addition to producing documentaries, Alpert oversaw casting for all of Bunim/Murray’s reality shows for seventeen years. She won an Emmy for her work on Born This Way and has been nominated for numerous Emmy’s for Project Runway.

Sasha was also one of the approximately dozen female students who were the first to break new ground and attend Moses Brown School when it resumed coeducational operations in 1976.  Sasha says that transferring to a school in which she knew no one while the school was in a transitional phase was tough at first. 

“Some boys were not happy we (the girls) were there, but at the same time, others were absolutely fine with it,” recalls Sasha. “I never felt I had to prove anything to the guys. I had male friends at Classical High School, and I ended up with male friends at Moses Brown.” 

Her experience of being female among a majority of male students may have given her exactly the resilience and fortitude she needed to land on her feet in the male-dominated industry of TV and film and become the recipient of multiple Emmy awards for her work.

She found that the values and educational approach of Moses Brown opened up new opportunities. Although she wasn’t raised a Quaker, she found she really enjoyed the moments of quiet meditation/prayer each morning. 

“I lived really close to the school, so it became part of my morning routine to stop by the little chapel for a few quiet moments to start my day.” She also explored things completely new to her, such as rowing crew. “I just thought, ‘why not?’” she says. Alpert knows that her Moses Brown experience provided value in ways both large and small.
 

Finding Her Voice and Purpose

Sasha claims that the size of the school and its approach to education offered an enormous benefit in the relationships students could have with their teachers. There was more time and therefore more availability for true mentorship. Sasha, along with other female students, took a feminist literature class taught by Beth Taylor (who went on to teach at both Harvard and Brown Universities). 

“She pushed us to develop our own voice. She had a huge influence on me.”

Beth thought Wesleyan University would be a school that Sasha would really like — and she was correct. One summer, Sasha interned on a project that documented overseas endeavors with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) such as building wells in Bangladesh. Sasha loved the work so much that when she went back to school she decided to major in film studies. She says that she loves documentaries because they allow you to have a visceral and personal understanding of a subject, providing a vehicle for stories that might otherwise never be told. 

“It’s one thing to read about something, but to put a face to it and learn about the individuals who are struggling and bearing their heart and soul to you … it’s a deeper dive.” 

Her first film, AUTISM: The Musical, addressed a topic that was really unfamiliar at the time. People simply didn’t know much or how to process what autism is. She thinks the film helped a lot of parents who had young autistic kids learn how to look at their situation without despair and giving up.  

“The film provided a way for parents and educators to view the situation in a loving way … to see the very positive things being done for autistic kids.”  

In 2022, Sasha executive produced the series On Edge about the road to the Olympics for ice dancers; the series won both a Telly and Real Screen award. She had two new films premiere on HBO in the Spring of 2020 — AUTISM: The Sequel and Transhood. Prior to that, her film They Call Us Monsters premiered on Independent Lens.

Additionally, Sasha produced Forever Hollywood – a film about the history of Hollywood which played continuously at the American Cinematheque’s Egyptian Theater in Los Angeles for 15 years. Alpert has also produced and directed for PBS, CBS, MTV, TBS, CNBC and The Disney Channel.

The Road to Reality TV

Sasha met her husband, a film critic, in NYC. When he had a west coast opportunity, they both landed in LA. Looking for a little more stability as their family grew, she began with Bunim/Murray and found herself working in reality TV and discovered she really loved it. 

“When I first started, the company was small, so I jumped around doing many things,” she says, discovering she really enjoyed casting for reality TV. “Casting is the closest to documentary work. In the casting phase, you’re getting to know people. You’re talking to people from all walks of life. I get to talk to college students, doctors, athletes, stars, etc., and learn about what makes them tick. I’ve always been a curious person and casting allows me to feed that curiosity.” 

The other thing she loves about reality TV is that it introduces the audience to people not normally featured on TV. One show featured one of the first trans people to be seen on TV.

“There can be a lot of positive exposure for people who are normally sidelined and marginalized.” 

Sasha has cast more than 25 seasons of The Real World (MTV), 11 seasons of the Emmy-nominated Project Runway (Lifetime), three seasons of Best Ink (Oxygen), and The Simple Life (E!/FOX), and was awarded a 2017 Emmy Award for Born This Way (A&E). 

Personal Reality

Given her curiosity, it’s not surprising to learn that Alpert loves to travel to new and different places. Right before the pandemic, she was working a lot in southeast Asia, providing the opportunity to explore Thailand, Myanmar, and Vietnam. Most recently, she explored the Galapagos Islands. 

At home, she loves to cook and spend time hiking. “It’s actually easy to hike around LA. There are a lot of options near Griffith Park … for which we were really grateful during the pandemic!” 

Alpert lives in LA with her husband of 30 years. They have a 28-year-old daughter who is currently attending UCLA for her graduate degree in Public Health. Their 25-year-old son is also working in the business as a script reader for Amazon studios.